Textile products have been in use for thousands of years and come in many forms. One way to classify textile products is by whether they are woven products (such as cotton products) or non-woven products (such as felt products). Generally, both have many applications and are widely used. Generally, “woven” products, as used herein, includes knitted textile products
One example of a nonwoven textile is felt, which has been used to make goods for centuries. Felt may be formed by placing randomly aligned wool and/or synthetic fibers under pressure and adding moisture, and optionally chemicals. With sufficient time, heat and water, the fibers bond to one another to form a felt cloth. This process may be known as “wet felting.”
As another option, fibers may be formed into a felt through “needle felting.” In needle felting, a specialized notched needle is pushed repeatedly in and out of a bundle or group fibers. Notches along the shaft of the needle may grab fibers in a top layer of the bundle and push them downward into the bundle, tangling these grabbed fibers with others. The needle notches face toward the felt bundle, such that the grabbed felt is released when the needle withdraws. As the needle motion continues, more and more fibers are tangled and bonded together, again creating a felt cloth.
Although two different ways to create felt products have been described, it should be appreciated that variants and/or other methods may be employed. Regardless of the production method, however, felts share certain characteristics. For example, felts are often used as an acoustic damper due to their relatively dense natures. Likewise, felt tends to pull apart readily, due to its nonwoven nature, if the integrity of the bonds between the threads is compromised. This tendency to break apart when subjected to certain stresses and/or chemical may limit the usefulness of felt for certain applications.